A Criminal's Heart
by Lady Lilith La Belle
Summary: Spencer Reid notices every detail. It's his talent and his job. But when he notices the secretary of the BAU for the first time, he wonders how he hadn't noticed her before and why something about her strikes him as familiar. As he tries to figure out the mystery that is Valerie Quinton, Spencer can't ignore the feelings he has as the cases keep growing stranger for his team.
1. Intro

Spencer Reid is a great man. He excels at his job. He has helped saved many lives. But he can't seem to approach the secretary at the BAU. She had been working at the BAU for months before he noticed her and that alarmed him. He was supposed to be able to pay attention to detail. That's his specialty. She has a smile that makes him question what he should say to her. Something about her is familiar. Something about her is strange and if he didn't know any better, he'd say deadly. But her kind behavior causes him to ignore his instincts for once and it could cost him his life. If only he could figure out why she seems so familiar.

It isn't her face. He would have recognized her within moments. It was her mannerisms. She would do things that rang alarms in his head. Though he could never figure out why. It bothered him and he couldn't help or ignore his growing attraction to the secretary. Her name tag says Valerie Quinton. But something in his mind tells him that her real name is just as dangerous as whatever secrets she is hiding.


	2. Chapter 1: A Beautiful Face

_"Talk about a workplace romance gone wrong" ~Amanda Waller **Suicide Squad**_

Chapter 1: A Beautiful Face

The day had started with an unusual case. Our unsub clearly had a hatred towards women. That was obvious by the state that the bodies of the thirteen women that had been found. We hadn't had a case as gruesome as this in months and the break from seeing such grotesque images didn't sway my teams discomfort. Each girl had been able to be identified and the all has remarkable features that would have them labeled as gorgeous. Looking through their social media accounts, it wasn't easy to even make a list of possible unsubs. They all had many admireradmirers. They all had a good following on their social networks, but none of them had been reported missing even though their accounts hadn't been logged into since the day of their deaths.

 **Mary-Angela Jenkins**

 **Age: 22**

 **Race: Caucasian**

 **Occupation: Amateur model, department store clerk**

 **Zayen Cloverfield**

 **Age: 20**

 **Race: Dominican**

 **Occupation: Student at community college**

 **Janet Ruffer**

 **Age: 23**

 **Race: Japanese - American**

 **Occupation: Assistant of the Executive Assistant of JewelCorp.**

They were the only three that had family we could contact. While J.J. got in touch with the relatives of the victims, the rest of us were building a profile as fast as we could. All of the bodies were in various stages of decomposition. However, it wasn't the number of victims that had been found or the period of time that the bodies had been disposed of, it was the fact that every girls face had been cut cleanly off. Not only that, their faces were plastered on masks that were placed near their bodies.

I went to the lab to see what our analyst could find on the masks. From the precision of the cuts on each victim, our unsub had to have been in a medical practice and could still be an active killer. The time span of the death of each of these girls ranges from a month to eight months ago. Normally with a serial killer, the killings are more spread out time wise in the beginning and erratic towards the end. But this killer did the each opposite. Eight of the victims were killed between seven or eight months ago and the time span increased dramatically. All of the victims seemed completely random and had nothing in common. They all were found in different areas and a few were in different states. Two were found in New York. Three in Indiana. One in Tennessee. Five in South Carolina. The last two were here in Virginia.

Our analyst concluded that the cause of death was most likely blunt force to the sternum. Every girls sternum waswas shattered. This would've caused the heart to stop almost immediately upon contact. Their faces were removed after they died. Their was no drugs in their systems. No sign of struggle. No traces of DNA either. The only thing I could conclude was that our unsub is most likely male.

I was sitting at my desk in the office, looking through the girls profiles again when I felt a firm tap on my shoulder. My eyed left the screen expecting to see J.J or Prentiss. It was neither of them. Instead, a young woman with a beautiful face, midnight black hair, and hazel eyes was staring down at me. The black hair and hazel eyes seemed like an odd combination at first glance, but it suited her. Her face was very symmetrical and her studded eyebrows only added to her allure. Confusion was my first reaction to her presence though. I did not know who this woman was or why she was here.

"Um...hi."

The woman smile gently at me and I noticed the cherry red lipstick that was perfectly proportioned on her lips. It only further confused me as her face identified to me as non-threatening, yet her choice of lipstick suggested danger. She presented a thin manillla folder in her left hand.

"Hotch wanted me to give this to you. He's out with Mr. Morgan questioning the witnesses who found the most recent body. It was in his office and he told me that it involves the first victim. They might have been able to identify her."

I took the folder in my hands and nodded my thanks. But as I opened the folder, she began to walk away and I that I should introduce myself.

"Wait. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself to you. My name is Spencer Reid."

I held out my right hand because I noticed that she favored her left. Her hazel eyes brighter as I did this. And it was in her eyes I saw a flash of something below her calm exterior. Excitement maybe. Or perhaps joy. Whatever it was, it was intense. Even if I only saw it for a split second. She gladly took my right hand in her left and shook it firmly.

"Valerie Quinton. I'm the secretary of this floor."

An alarm went off in my head at this moment,

"Oh, well I hope it's not too much work for you. This case looks like it will be a runaround."

She lookelooked intently at me with a serious face,

"Not to worry, Mr. Reid. I've gotten the hang of things over the past three months. My desk is the closest to the glass doors. Feel free to ask for my assistance on anything. I do have a degree in mental health and behavioral studies. See you around, Mr. Reid."

And just like that, she smioed down at me one last time before she was walking away. Her words however, rang through my head. _Three months._ She's been here for three months and I only noticed her the moment she made herself known. Either I was beginning to miss details of everything around me or she has been purposely avoiding me since she got here so that I wouldn't notice her. I quickly put that thought out of my head. I just met this woman and jumping to conclusions isn't fair to her. She could actually be a nice person. The warning bells going off in my head keep telling me otherwise. But watching her walk away, another detail pops into my head.

 _Mr. Reid._

She addressed my as Mr. Reid. Nobody calls me that. My thoughts dwell on her a little while longer before turning to the folder in my hand. This case is going to be a long one since all the evidence has been a dead end.


End file.
